This is the city: Los Angeles, California. I work here. I'm an ex-mayor. Los Angeles is a magnet for people from all over the world. Some of them run for public office. Inevitably some of them stray from the golden rule and rule for those that have the gold. That's when I go to work. My name is Yorty. I'm a dead pol.

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Anonymous said:

Fabulous. You covered all the issues. The candidates did great. Every one of them. Thanks so much Higby for this informative, entertaining and necessary event. I still don't know who to vote for but I'm planning to watch it a few times before making a final choice.

USC’s Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics will host a discussion about the measure on Wednesday at noon, in room 100 of the Von Kleinsmid Center.

“Everybody thinks solar power is a good idea, so the challenge for the opposition is to convince people that there are better ways of making Los Angeles solar-friendly,” said Dan Schnur, the institute’s director.

The discussion of Measure B has produced strong opinions from civic leaders across the city.

The city council approved the measure for the ballot unanimously, but many people have voiced opinions in opposition, including City Controller Laura Chick and former DWP president and city controller candidate Nick Patsaouras.

On Feb. 13, seven of the 10 candidates now running for mayor of Los Angeles said they do not support the measure.

“This plan is extremely risky,” said candidate David “Zuma Dogg” Saltsburg. “There really is no plan, and the DWP is not prepared for a project of this size. It’ll drive up rates, and then we won’t get a real solar plan, because we’ll just have this inefficient boondoggle.”

One reason people are drawing conflicting conclusions about the measure is due to the wording of the proposition itself, Sellers said.

“This exemplifies one of the real problems with making a policy by referendum,” Sellers said. “Because it’s such a complicated measure and is indisputably imperfect, it’s difficult for a voter to go through and figure out from the text what the proposition actually does.”

Sellers said that if the measure passes, the way the DWP chooses to implement it will have a significant impact on the results.

“If the DWP is going to develop its own power sources, and not encourage private businesses and households to develop their own solar power, then the measure will take away part of the impetus towards more solar power that it is designed to promote,” he said.